Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

Inglorious Bastards (1981)

A group of military convicts escape behind enemy lines when their convoy is attacked, but when they accidentally kill an undercover commando unit they decide to complete their mission.

The Dirty Dozen meets the A-Team in this exploitation war flick that won’t win any awards for subtlety. The script is episodic, characters stereotypical and production value TV standard, but what it has is action in spades. It’s like a typical boy’s own war film with a bit of gratuitous nudity, swearing and blaxploitation thrown in, the latter provided by Fred Williamson – who you may recognise from From Dusk Til Dawn – playing the usual “I don’t take no shit from nobody!” bad ass who is inevitably and constantly riled by a redneck wiseacre played by Peter Hooten – who incidentally may be the worst actor in the known universe. Add the least convincing romantic interlude you are ever likely to see and sophistication is clearly not this film’s strong suit.

If you like plenty of explosions, gunfire and men in Nazi uniforms being flung through the air left, right and centre, this film might fit the bill. But if you’re interested just to see the “original” version of Tarantino’s film then don’t bother. Aside from the title, it has virtually nothing to do with it.